When a heron inexplicably ended up in the lion enclosure, the big cat’s instincts sprung into action.

Max Quinn was vacationing at Amsterdam’s Artis Zoo when he captured this footage of a lion attacking a water bird that wandered up to the wrong pond. In the zoo’s lion enclosure, a female big cat creeps out of the shadows and stalks up to a heron drinking by the water. The cat stealthily inches toward the bird, but freezes when the bird turns its head.

Then, after a few beats, the bird shifts its gaze away and the lion lunges. The bird tries to flap away but the cat grabs it and pulls it down. The heron is dead in an instant, and two other lions rush into the frame.

“These [skills] are intrinsically genetically programed into cats,” Funston says, but “I think these are the sort of things they refine over time.”

In the wild, young animals get a chance to watch their parents hunt. Funston says that when he sees wild big cats hunting, the youngsters will sometimes mess up by making themselves too obvious or not timing their attack at the right time.

“It’s these sort of finer skills of the actual hunt that they learn through participation and watching other lions hunt,” Funston says.

While it’s unclear just how much practice the Amsterdam Zoo’s lion had before the surprise visitor appeared, her swift instinctive response ensured the unlucky heron never left.